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Civil-unions bill passes Colorado Senate 21-14

By Lynn BartelsThe Denver Post

Posted:
02/11/2013 08:15:06 AM MST

Updated:
02/11/2013 11:42:58 PM MST

State Sen. Rollie Heath, left, congratulates Sens. Lucia Guzman, behind Heath, and Pat Steadman, right, after a bill allowing gay couples to form civil unions passed the Senate on Monday morning. The Senate had given initial approval to the bill Friday. (Evan Semon, Special to The Denver Post)

A bill allowing gay couples to form civil unions passed the Senate on Monday morning on a 21-14 vote, with Sen. Ellen Roberts of Durango providing the lone Republican "yes" vote.

Lawmakers often are silent during the official vote, simply voting "yes" or "no," but often on high-profile bills there is another round of debate before the vote.

But there was no further debate Monday, perhaps because it was the third time in three years the Senate has debated the measure.

"I was ready," Sen. Pat Steadman, a Democrat of Denver said.

There was a mini-debate in 2011, the first year Steadman introduced his civil-unions bill.

Lawmakers knew that Sen. Jean White, R-Hayden, was a "yes" vote on the measure, but she didn't come to the microphone during the debate. She did before the official vote, and what White told her Senate colleagues left some in tears.

She said she had been inspired by what she heard in the debate, including remarks by Sen. Linda Newell, D-Littleton, who said her brother Bill "lived in the shadows." He didn't acknowledge he was gay until after he was 50 years old. Newell said her vote was for him.

"It occurred to me," White said, "that if I did not come to the mic in support of this bill today, that I would be voting quietly for it but not having the courage to stand up for what is right, not having the courage for me to step out of the shadows and tell my story."

White told her colleagues she has a gay niece and a gay nephew "whom I have loved from the moment they were born."